Transfer ticket



Oct. 28 1924.

J.H.MORAN TRANSFER TICKET l2 MIDNIGHT NOT GOOD ON'CAR 7 NOT GOOD ON CAR GOING some TOWARD POINTPUNCHED y 10 TOWARD POINT puucnsq 3| w RESERVOIR fi Z A BOYLSTDNSEBR LAKE STREET w d w ALLSTDN 22 6 f I BOYLSTON BOSTON 5 4 ALLSTUN RESERVOIR k 515mm PROPER A DUDLEYSTATION some: PRQPER w 15 a}: BRUUKUNE 24 IL. 1% LONGWOODAVE BLINE VlLLAGE 1% 12 V 25 w CAMBRIDGE a .4 SEE OTHER SIDE FOR I i5 CYPRESSST g 26 CONDITIONS OF USE OF LO Q ENEWOOD THIS TRANSFERTIC'KET q- 6 AVE. 2? m LAKE ST.

U g a J 17 MARKEI'ST. EB a: Q a ND. e000 ONLY UNTIL O ia BEACON ST, EMERGENCY 2g 19 if DUDLEY STA. GUUDUNLYUNTIL 4 Q A SEEOTHERSIDE F0? CONDITIUNBUFUSE u L 1 E MTHISTRANSFERTIGKEI' W I 2 PM @AM Patented Oct. 28, 1924..

UNITED STATES I 1,513,412 PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H. MORAN, OF BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS.

TRANSFER TICKET.

Continuation of application Serial No. 532,213, filed January 27, 1922. This application filed May 16,

1924. Serial No. 713,818.

To all whom it may concern:

- Be it known-that I, JOHN H. MORAN, a

.citizen of the United States, residing at Brookline, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Transfer Tickets, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in free transfer tickets used by street railway systems, and more particularly to the type of free transfer ticket which prescribes a time limit within which the transfer privilege must be exercised.

The type of time limit transfer ticket in general use at the present time, where the system provides for numerous transfer stations, is cumbersome and diflicult to understand, both by the conductor who issues it and the passenger who uses it. One object of the present invention is to simplify the data on the transfer ticket rendering it readable at a glance with no opportunity for confusion by either the issuing agent or user.

A great deal of difiiculty, resulting in loss of revenue, is experienced by traction companies due to the inability of conductors, during rush hour periods particularly, to properly punch the existing transfer tickets.

These tickets require, as a rule, to be punched for the month and day, the destination and the time limit. This requires at least four punching operations and careful scrutiny by the issuing conductor to select the proper ruled spaces to receive the mutilation. The same careful scrutiny is required of the gateman or other collector of the transfers to detect fraud in their use. Vhen it is considered that the date and half-hourly time spaces number 91, and on systems of any reasonable size the transfer point spaces number from 25 to or more, it will be understood that it is practically impossible for a conductor to issue a large number of correctly punched transfers in a few minutes of time, as he often must try to do. A tabulation of one days transfer tickets of the old type, collected at one transfer station, has

shown that out of 1519 transfers collected,

277 were unpunched for destination, 2-69 were unlimited as to time of use, 18 indicated a wrong time limit, 7 were undated and 5 were wronglydated, a total of nearly 40% of errors. This condition has enabled a system of abuse of the transfer privilege to grow up which cannot be controlled even by prosecution of offenders. Accordingly another object of the invention is to provide a transfer ticket which may be readily handled by the issuing agent in rush hours; which cannot be used on a date other than that on which it was issued, or at a time later than the time limit required by the rules; which will necessarily-restrict its use to a continuation of the journey by the passenger m an authorized direction; and which has no sale value. The present inventor has solved this problem by'devising a form of transfer, which, if punched at all, requires but a single punching operation to be made on a large nmnber of transfers this being done before the conductor begins his'days work, and with the data restricting use so arranged and so plainly indicated that the collecting agent can tell at a glance whether or not the transfer should be accepted, thus preventing fraud.

To the accomplishment of these objects, and such others as may hereinafter appear, as will readily be understood by those skilled in the art, the invention comprises the features and combinations of co-operating data elements hereinafter described and then particularly pointed out in the'appended claims.

The preferred form of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 shows a complete transfer ticket having a printed, absolute calendar date and illustrating time coupons for post meridian use, and Fig. 2 shows another type in which an absolute calendar date is denoted in another way and illustrating time coupons for ante meridian use. It will be understood that both ante and post meridian coupons may be used on the same ticket if desired.

In the form of the invention illustrated in the drawing, the required data is printed upon an elongated piece, or strip, of paper, and these strips are bound in blocks all as usual. There are distinctive differences, however, over the type of transfer now in use both as to constructional features of the paper strip and the characteristics and arrangement of the data printed thereon.

The transfer is divided intotwo distinctive parts comprising (1) the date and destination data, indicated generally by a, and (2) the time limit data, indicated generally by b. The illustrated arrangement provides for the data a and 7) at opposite ends of the strip. On the transfer t ckets to be superseded by the present invention there can be no clear separation of the printed data at opposite ends of the strip due to the varlation in the number of transfer points on diflerent divisions of the system, and the space required for tabulating an indication of the month, day and A. and P. M. hour to be selectively punched on lssue of the ticket. An important feature of the present transfer resides in the elimination therefrom of the usual long list of transfer points, requiring punching by the conductor, while yet definitely restricting the use of the transfer as to time, place and date.

Referring now to the drawing, at the outer, or free end of the strip is the legend Not good on car going toward point punched and a schedule of points of origin of the car from whlch the transfer is issued. Those familiar with traction systems will understand that the names of stations on this table will vary with particulars of the division of the system on which the car is routed. Furthermore, in some systems transfers are issued from general transfer stations at which the direction of movement of the passenger is absolutely controlled, and it is within the scope of the invention to vary the data on schedule (1 in such manner as to render the transfer useful at such stations, for example, by including in the schedule only the name of the transfer station atwhich the transfer is issued. Each station named in the schedule 03 has a mark, as the star 6, associated therewith, the function of which will presently be defined. The remaining space on the data portion a of the ticket may be utilized for the usual serial number, other useful printed matter, and the indicia limiting the use of the ticket to a single day.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the relative location of the various items of the data on the part a need not necessarily be that which is illustrated, some mechanical rearrangement by the printer being requisite in preparing the various transfers for different routes and conditions of use. The design of the transfer however,

is such that its use must be limited to a single day in all types and, therefore, a calendar date forms an essential feature of the data on part a. This may conveniently be a complete printed date, as illustrated at f on Fig. 1, but it is within the scope of the invention to substitute for the complete printed date any equivalent indicia which definitely designates an absolute calendar date and thus limits the use of the transfer to that single day. This may be accomplished by printing the month f only, as shown on Fig. 2, and by providing the part a of the ticket with a marginal series of numerals of which there may be sufficient for a month of thirty-one days, as shown, or a lesser number as may be convenient or desirable. The complete date is formed by deleting, as by the marginal notch g, the particular numeral of the series which represents the day of the month on which the transfer ticket is to be valid. In Fig. 2 the 11th day of May has been definitely denoted in this way. Thus by association of the indicia formed by the deleted numeral with the indicia formed by the printed month an absolute calendar date is obtained which is as definite as a completely printed date. It

will be understood that the operation of deleting a marginal numeral is performed on the blocks of tickets, to the number required, before they are delivered to the conductor or other issuing agent. This latter mode of denoting an absolute calendar date on the transfer ticket is desirable on such routes or divisions of a traction system where the demand for transfers is so limited that a completely printed date, even only on a single block of one hundred tickets, would lead to waste, and it is generally found to be preferable on all divisions.

The time Within which the transfer ticket can be used is limited, not only by the designation of an absolute calendar date on part a but also by certain prescribed time-limiting indicia on part b. In order to associate the two parts together the legend Good only until is printed on the ticket intermediate the parts a and b. The lower part of the transfer, below the legend Good only until, is ruled transversely with parallel weakened lines it forming a plurality of detachable coupons 72' each of whic bears a number m or n at one or the other end thereof, indicating an hour of the day or night. The transfer illustrated by Fig. 1 is for use throughout an afternoon and night and may be termed a post meridian or P. M. transfer ticket. The transfer illustrated by Fig. 2 is for use during the morning hours and may be termed an ante meridian or A. M. transfer ticket. In practice it is preferred to rint the A. M. and P. M. transfers on di erent colored paper, or have one white and the other colored, so that the eye will readily catch a misuse of one for the other. Preferably also the date, where printed, is in a color contrasting with that of the remaining data to make it stand out. It will be observed that the numbers m, at the left ends of the coupons 16, represent the odd time-limiting hours while the numbers n, at the right ends of the coupons is represent the even time-limiting hours when the greatest time given is one hour. Late at night and in the early morning the time given is usually increased and the figures of the drawing illustrate this type of transfer. lit will be observed that the meridian till 1 ll F) and midnight hours are printed centrally of the coupon I: so as to readily be distinguishable and are further designated Noon and Midnight.

Before'the type of transfer ticket illustrated by either figure of the drawing is delivered to passengers, the issuing department of the system, or the conductor, will punch the star 6 associated with the point of origin of the car from which the transfers are to be used, on enough transfers to care for the run about to be started, or for the entire day if that is possible. A passenger receivin such a transfer cannot then, by means 0 it, obtain a free ride to his starting point. In delivering the transfer to a passenger the only act required by the conductor is to tear the strip on the line 72'. cccuring just below the next succeeding hour of the day. Thus all punching for date, time or destination just prior todelivery is completely eliminated, the conductor merely being charged with determining the correct time-limit. It will be understood that the portion of the strip below the line on which it is torn remains, as a record stub, with the conductor. This same procedure is used at all transfer stations on the line and the passenger who receives the detached portion is specifically limited as to the day and time of use, and can use the transfer only for proceeding farther on the original journey in the manner prescribed by the rules of the company. In street railway systems transfers are issued not only by conductors on the cars but also at booths located at transfer stations. In the latter case it is convenient and expeditious to lay the book of transfers on the shelf and remove the strips for issuance b laying a straight edge at the desired line 0 division. It is obvious that the soft paper of the transfers can readily be torn along a straight edge without any weakening of the lines of division between the coupons, hence the invention includes within its scope any series of conpons that are divisible from each other whether or not the act of separation is assisted by perforating, scoring or otherwise weakening the line of division.

The simplicity of the transfer ticket and of its use will be obvious from the preceding description. At some transfer points cars may be taken in one of several directions but the one type of transfer is good for all because a return journey to the point of origin is impossible. The co-operation of the schedule (Z with the time limits m and n, to restrict the passenger to a proper use of the transfer is apparent.

' Attention is particularly called to the ad vantage gained from the novel form of the printed route indicia on part a which, for want of a better term, may be called comprehensive because, as it stands at the bereceives it, as distinguished from indicia of a character that requires a special manipulation for each separate condition of use as by punchin one or more times. This will be more ful y understood when it is considered that the form of transfer ticket now in general use is so punched by the conductor as to tell the recipient in which direction he can go from some particular transfer point, but with a transfer bearing the novel route data of the present invention the recipient is enabled to continue his journey from any transfer station on the route, and in any direction except a return journey.

The illustrated transfer may, therefore, properly be termed a universal transfer, because when used on a small transportation system a complete schedule of the points of origin of all cars on the system may be printed on one transfer, and when used on larger systems like data for a large number of cars operating in a selected area or over a combination of interlocking routes may be printed on one transfer. As concrete examples, the traction system of a city the approximate size of Worcester, Massachusetts, could supply one printed form of transfer as a single substitute for the twenty-five or thirty different forms of the old type, and the complicated traction system Of! Boston, Massachusetts, could reduce its number of printed forms from one hundred thirty to fifty down to ten or a dozen. This simplicity and universality is obtained through the simple but novel expedient of providing route data by which the user is informed where he can not go instead of where he can go. This important .feature of the transfer. preferably is combined with detachable time coupons, but those skilled in the art will recognize that it is within the scope of the invention to combine with the illustrated route data any other associated data permitting restriction as to date and time of use.

The detachable coupon feature, when coupled with the single calendar date and schedule of points of origin, or analogous comprehensive route indicia, effectually prevents an improper use of the transfer and makes it valueless for barter and trade. The arrangement of the time limits m and nwith the earliest hour adjacent the date porme I tion a prevents extending the time by Sun; reptitious removal of another coupon. It is within the scope of the invention to vary the time limit allowed by quarter hours, half hours or otherwise as may be desirable, the impontant consideration being the provision of a single, unitary time limit on each coupon. The fact that the transfer will vary in size during different periods of the day is of great assistance in detecting-"fraud especially to gatemen at prepayment stations where thousands of transfers may be collected every day. A glance is sufficient to detect fraud where detailed examination, impossible in practice, has heretofore been necessary.

, I believe that I am the first to provide a transfer ticket that controls a continuation of the recipients journey by reference to the point of origin of the car from which it was issued, whereby a single form of transfer ismade universal to a plurality of transfer points and no additional information, by punching or otherwise, is required to inform the recipient in what direction he can go from a particular transfer point.

lhe fundamental features of the present invention were described and claimed in an application for improvements in transfer tickets filed by me on the 27th day of January, 1922, Serial No. 532,213, and this application is a continuation thereof.

The nature and scope of the invention having been indicated and the preferred form of the invention having been specifically described, what is claimed as new, 1s:-

1. A transfer ticket consisting of two portions one of which is provided withindicia designating the car route, or routes, on which -the transfer is acceptable and the date of issue, and the other of which comprises a series of adjoining but divisible coupons each bearing a different single, unitary time limit each of which is applicable to all parts of said indicia.

2. A transfer ticket consisting of two portions one of which is provided with indicia designating the car route, or routes, on which the transfer is acceptable and the date of issue, and the other of which comprises a series of divisible coupons each bearing a different single, unitary time limit indicia which are'arranged on the series of coupons with the odd and even hours in separate columns.

3. A transfer ticket consisting of two portions one of which is provided with comprehensive indicia designating the car route,

or routes, on which the transfer is acceptable, 7

and also having a calendar date of issue denoted thereon, and the other of which comprises a series of divisible coupons each bearing a different single, unitary time limit indicia each of which relates to all the data the coupon nearest said first portion bearing the earliest time limit of the series and successive coupons bearing later time limits in horologic sequence.

4. A transfer ticket having a bod portion on which an absolute calendar ate is denoted and comprehensive route data limiting the destination of the passenger to whom the transfer is issued, and a time limit portion comprising a series of attached coupons each bearing a definite time limit which is complete on each cou on and, in each instance, relates to all t e data on said portion, said coupons being separable along lines between them, whereby the issuing agent may selectively determine the time limit to be associated with the body portion.

5. A transfer ticket designed to eliminate punching at the time of delivery for the date and time limit comprising a definite calendar date, and attached single series of unitary time-limiting hours soarranged that all hours of the series later than the selected hour may be removed leavin the selected hour as the terminal of one end of the transfer delivered to the passenger, and comprehensive route indicia assoclated with said date preventing a use of the transfer in a direction not authorized and to which each time-limiting hour is equally applicable.

6. A transfer ticket comprising a schedule of points of origin of the cars from which transfers are to be issued on which a particular point of origin may be selectively indicated, an absolute calendar date, and detachable means for selectively limiting the time of use.

7. A transfer ticket comprising a data portion bearing indicia preventing use of the transfer ticket in a direction toward the point of origin of the car from which the transfer is to be used and a calendar date,

and a time portion comprising a series of attached but separable coupons each bearing a different complete time limiting indicia.

8. A transfer ticket having a calendar date, printed data for preventing a use of the ticket in an unauthorized direction, and a detachably connected series of divisible coupons on which are printed, in horologic sequence a series of time-limiting hours.

9. A transfer ticket designed to eliminate punching by the issuing conductor for date and time limit comprising a strip having at one end a schedule of points of origin, on which the point of origin of the car from which the transfer is to be issued may be indicated before the run is started, an absolute calendar date, a series of numbers representing hours of the day adjacent said date in horologic sequence from said date to the other end of the strip, and means permitting the strip to be severed transversely .of' said first portion of the transfer ticket,

between any two adjacent hours and thus selectively associate a definite time limit with said date and point of origin.

10. A transfer ticket designed for use in any authorized direction at a transfer point,

except a return journey toward the point of origin of the car from which it was issued consisting of three elements only, a permanent record ofthe point of origin, and absolute calendar date, and selective time limiting data associated therewith.

11. A universal transfer ticket for transport-ation systems comprising a schedule of points of origin including the point of origin of the car from which the transfer ticket is to be issued, and associated legend Not good on car going toward point punched, and associated data for limiting the time of use, whereby the transfer may he used legally at any transfer point passed by the car and in any direction except a return journey.

12. A universal transfer ticket for transportation systems having thereon, route data comprising a schedule of the points of origin of cars operated on the system or on a portion thereof, of which the point of origin of the car from which the transfer is to be issued is adapted to be obliterated, and a regulatory condition restricting the use of the transfer at transfer stations to a direction other than toward said ohliterated point of origin; and other restrictive data associated with said route data providing for limitation of use as to date and time of day.

13. A transfer ticket for use in any authorized direction at a transfer point bearing a legend Not good on car going toward point punched, a schedule of points of origin adjacent said legend of Which only the point of origin of the car from which the transfer is to be issued is punched, thereby permitting a use of the transfer in any direction at a transfer point except a return journey toward the point of origin of the car from which it was issued and restrictive dataassociated With said schedule providing for limitation of use as to both date and t me of day.

14. A transfer ticket designed for use in any authorized direction at a transfer point, except a return journey toward the point of origin of the car from which it was issued comprising. a plurality of points of origin of which one is specially designated as the point of origin of the car from which the transfer is to be issued, a printed associated condition of use forbidding the passenger to journey toward said designated point of origin, and data for providing for a use within an authorized time limit.

15. A universal transfer ticket having a schedule of points of origin of a plurality of cars including a special designation of the point of origin of the car from which the transfer is to be issued, a single calendar date, and means permitting selective restriction of the time of use.'

16. A universal transfer ticket having 'indicia bymeans of which its use may be restricted to a single day and within a certain time limit of that day, and associated car route indicia specifying the direction in which the transfer can not be used.

JOHN H. MORAN. 

